Following the success of the classic trilogy The Lord of the Rings (1954-56), both on print and film, J. R. R. Tolkien is often considered the “Father of High Fantasy”. His story of middle earth, the highly imaginative land filled with elves, dwarves and wizards has been translated into dozen languages all over the world and is one of the most influential pieces of literature of the 20th century. However, the LOTR story begins as a sequel to Tolkien’s earlier work, the less complex children’s novel The Hobbit. Much of the inspiration for story came from his early life, from books he read as a teen or fantasy games he played as child (White, 2001).

Tolkien was inspired by Scottish academic Andrew Lang at a very early age (Berman, 2007). Lang was a collector of folk and fairy tales, and commonly featured dragons and the deeds of noble knights, something young Tolkien adored and would later portray in his own literature. According to Berman (2007), the wide collection of mythological features promoted in Lang’s literature, eventually gave Tolkien a choice of which type of magic and wonder he wanted for his own fantasy. As a scholar, Tolkien was able to analyse Lang’s sources, and more importantly examine material Lang was less interested in (Lang’s primary interest was Greek Mythology). It is easy to identify the Germanic elements of middle-earth, such as the Scandinavian trolls, Germanic dwarves and elves. But the fairy tale element adapted from Lang’s work was obviously important as well. Berman (2007) points out examples of magic rings found in Lang’s collection, notably Fenelon’s “The Enchanted Ring”, where a ring not only provides invisibility to anyone who uses it, but is also discovered to be too powerful to use safely. “The Dragon of the North”, an Estonian fairy tale presented by Lang in “The Yellow Fairy Book” (1894), also features a ring of invisibility. The hero of the story is taught how to use it by a wise magician (or wizard) who has the ability to read the secret writing engraved on the ring (the same as Gandalf does with Bilbo’s ring in The Hobbit) (Berman, 2007).

Certain similarities between the epic poem Beowulf and The Hobbit have also been identified. Tolkien specialized in Anglo-Saxon during his teaching days at the University of Oxford and Beowulf is commonly referred to as one of the most important texts of Anglo-Saxon literature. In both storylines a party of 13 are seeking revenge on a dragon, where one member is referred to as a thief (in The Hobbit, Bilbo the burglar steals a cup from the Dragon’s nest). Both dragons eventually cause terror and destruction and they both have well protected armours, a natural one in Beowulf and gold and silver one in The Hobbit, however, both get killed at a weak point. The main protagonists also share similar characteristics. Both heroes have supernatural powers; Bilbo has the ring of invisibility and Beowulf has his supernatural strength. While Beowulf receives support from (a) God (this case Odin), Bilbo’s sheer luck often influences the story’s outcome. Additionally, they both get separated from their group, Bilbo in the mountains and Beowulf when captured by Grendel’s mother. Other Anglo-Saxon influences have been proposed, such as Tolkien’s dwarves who are thought to mirror the warrior nature of the Anglo-Saxon society, in addition their fondness of jewellery and war gear.

Currently, I am working on an analytical essay where I attempt to seek on answers on how the social, cultural, economic and political circumstances affected Tolkien’s work.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

White, Micahel. 2001 Tolkien: A Biography. Little, Brown and Company. London.

Berman, Ruth. 2007 Tolkien as a child of The Green Fairy Book, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1-2_26/ai_n21130452/ (accessed March 2 2010)

Green, L. R. 1946 Andrew Lang: a critical biography with a short-title bibliography of the works of Andrew Lang. E. Ward. University of Michigan.

Ancalagon 2007 Tolkien and Beowulf, available at: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/papers/Ancalagon/TolkienandBeowulf.htm (accesssed 3 March 2010)